Friday, August 29, 2008

Attending the Acceptance Speech

Yesterday, my friend Julia came to my desk to ask if I wanted to go see Obama. I simply thought she meant go back outside to the hotel where he is staying and watch the motorcade drive by again. I grabbed my camera and said sure.

That's when she surprised me. She meant go see Obama. I immediately said yes. No matter what needed to be done throughout the rest of the day, I had to be there. After clearing it through everyone, we left.

Unfortunately, we didn't really think this part through. We got a taxi that took us to the Pepsi Center and then walked the 2 miles to meet our tickets. Her friend, a lobbyist with Planned Parenthood, had 2 extra tickets. (Thank you Planned Parenthood for the seats and I will be voting against 47 in November!) And then we waited. And we waited. And we waited. We stood in line for 3 1/2 hours to get through security and up to our seats.

When the Rockies were in the playoffs last year, I sat in the 2nd to last row of the stadium. When Obama spoke last night, I was in the 10th to last row of the stadium. We had a great view of the back of every speakers head. But I was there. I was there when Obama accepted the nomination. I was a part of history.

My only complaint about last night isn't the walk or the long line, or the location of our seats. It was that I couldn't hear Al Gore or Obama speak. The echo was horrible that high up and when the crowd got excited, well, it should have been an adult from a Peanuts cartoon. Thankfully CNN always posts the text from the speeches and I was able to read what each man had to say.

Historic? Definitely. Aw inspiring? You betcha. Chance of a lifetime? Of course. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat.

And if that wasn't enough, in a crowd of 75,000, I was able to see my friend Jeni, randomly on the street. Want proof of the evening? Click here.

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